What if this week, every time we look in the mirror and think … “Uggh, I need to ______ {lose weight, do something about these wrinkles, get rid of those dark circles under my eyes, etc.} you say this out loud:
“He calls me Beautiful.”
Because it’s true. He does!
What if we surrounded our hearts with truth seekers and truth-speakers, who told us these truths again and again? Friends who point us back to the One who calls us Beloved, Known and Valuable.
This week I’m honored to be joining a community of women that do just that, everyday. Speaking courage, truth and Hope into the hearts of women around the world through their words, blog posts, community groups and more. Oh how I’d love for you to join (me) there as I join the contributing writers team of:
Perhaps (in)courage is a place you already know? Or maybe it’s a community waiting for you? I’ll be sharing more in the weeks to come. But I hope you’ll hop on over this week, and find out more about (in)courage, see me with bed-head (in my favorite place on earth), and meet the other new writers here. BUT BEFORE YOU GO be sure to ENTER TO WIN (Sorry, the giveaway is over, but would still love to hear from you)!
To celebrate the (in)courage-ment, and the fact that this week will be different because we’re going to tell ourselves the truth every time we look in the mirror… I’m giving away Love Idol: Letting Go of Your Need for Approval and Seeing Yourself through God’s Eyes, by my friend Jennifer Dukes Lee. Jennifer is also a newbie (in)courage writer along with several others and me who joined the (in)courage team today!
Jennifer wrote “Love Idol” for women like us—who’ve had “enough of the not-enoughs.” This book is her journey toward freedom from the approval-seeking-cycle where she invites us to a place where we can lay down every mirror, every tally sheet, every report card — everything that tells us we aren’t (____) enough.
ENTER TO WIN by leaving a comment sharing one area of your life where you would love to see yourself as God sees you: loved and pre approved. (Sorry, the giveaway is over, but would still love to hear from you)
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There are several areas that I feel less than…. but the one I struggle with the most is being “mom”. So many times I fail…. Praise the Lord He pours grace on my children…..
I am famous for saying I am not good enough at doing anything right for my family. I have confidence in my job, but not in family. I feel like I need to be a better mom and need to be a WAY better wife. I feel like I am cranky at them or dont push them enough to go outside of their comfort zone. I feel I am not good enough cook, good enough with homework, dont spend enough time, dont have enough patience. I just period dont have enough confidence. There is only one spot in my life where I feel like I am good at something and that is my job, but only the work. Not confident with the people. I would love to read this book, whether I win it or not. To make me feel human again and to push me to be better and feel like I am good enough. This sounds like a great read!! I do always lean on God and I believe that is the reason I am still above water!!! I do feel I am a good person, but misread and misunderstood!!
I would love to see how God sees my inter -beauty. How do other people see me? Can they see the loving heart? or the broken heart? The strong woman or the scared woman? I wonder how God sees my heart. Thank you so much for this subject, pre-approved.
I have never been quite *good enough* for anyone that has been in my life. I don’t seem to have measured up to everyone else. I really struggle in self esteem because of this as well as seeing myself as ever being beautiful to anyone. I am having difficulty seeing myself a certain way in God’s eyes because of how the people in my life have viewed me, especially to be *Pre-Approved and Loved*. 🙁
I would love to see myself as more confident; able to get up in front of people without feeling like I could faint. I am getting better as I become closer to God but still feel as if I could stop breathing.
My biggest struggle is me weight but I’m learning that God loves me right where I am! There are no stipulation to His love ~ he loves me as a big girl and he will love me as a not so big girl! I need to remember that I’m pre-approved and His love is all I need. Thanks for this reminder!
The fact that I never approve of myself, I am constantly cutting myself down. I know that He loves me, but I still don’t accept and love myself. It is like a bipolar cycle with me I am on top of the world for a while and then wham! the bottom falls out!
What an amazing phrase…”Pre-approved”! God never judges us and we as women feel so much pressure to always be flawless because we do not want to be seen as weary and worn. God still loves us unconditionally and calls us Beautiful even when we do not always agree. I want God to see me in a loving and positive light. I have placed too much pressure in my life over the fact that I have never been married or never had any children and started to believe something was wrong in my life. I know God is my ROCK and RESCUE ! I have learned to focus on what he has given me such us plenty of neices and nephews and little cousins to have been privileged to assist in raising. I know GOD has something in store for me and I believe ! I am Pre-Approved for this Destiny. Thank you so much for this opportunity.
Blessings and in His care,
Mary Ann Leonard
It is so easy to loose sight of the fact that God calls us Beautiful and Pre-Approved. We forget that He created us! He chose us from the beginning of time! How easy it is to take our eyes off of our creator and His promises for our life, look around at the world and compare ourselves to others. God sees us, He knows our beginning to end, He is not surprised by our choices, our actions, or our hearts…. He loves us and placed His Son in our place as an investment… Yes! We are His investment! Amen! When God spoke these truths into my heart I found myself in Awe of a God who truly loves and cherishes each and every one of His dear Children, and YES! that includes ME!!!!
I needed that reminder that I am per approved by God and only need to seek is approval of me. I am having a rough time this week, feeling inadequate and unworthy. I am so thankful that I AM a child of the one true God.
The area in which I would love to see myself as God sees me is in my self confidence. I have always had low self confidence and just have always portrayed myself in the opposite so that people don’t know. It affects every area of my life. Bad relationships, job loss, inability to do the things I have desired to do, like start a non-profit business, write a book, move forward with and inventive idea because I have always been told things I talk about don’t make sense and the people I look up to seem to know better than me so I put those things away. If I could see what God sees in me maybe I would be able to do better but even I can’t figure why he has me here.
i need to think of myself as per-approved as i move on after a divorce.
I think my biggest areas of need for approval are in my physical body. I have always felt I don’t measure up and still working on making God’s truth imprinted so deeply in my mind that I know I am completely who He says I am that way. Also my husband and I are Deacons at church and I really need to work on not worrying about people people approved in this area of ministry.
I need to feel this in every area if my life. A lifetime of perfectionism has taken its toll as there is not a possibility of perfection on this earth. Would love to read this book!
I often let doubt or negative thoughts creep in and take over my thinking. I need to remember that I am preapproved and look for the truth in God’s word rather than in what others may think.
Thank you for sharing about this book ….The area’s that popped-up instantly are …as a mum and wife…….!
Praise The Lord! My life has been changed because I find my truth in God’s word instead of what others say or what my negative feelings might tell me. What if the norm was for women to be confident and secure in their worth? I started a blog in November to share the beauty in my life that comes from finding security in Christ.
Wow, let me count the ways that I need this book. I used to weigh about 370 lbs and was married to a preacher whom I had 3 children with. He degraded me continuously about everything. Asking once why I couldn’t be skinny like our deacons wife. I built up all these hurts and defenses and finally I left him. There was horrible verbal abuse but there were other issues that I won’t post but left me feeling I was pathetic. I lost a lot of weight with diet and exercise and I felt beautiful. I met a wonderful man and we fell in love and married. We’ve been together for a yr now and I’ve gained about 60 lbs back and out of nowhere, here come these past feelings, you’re getting chubby again, he doesn’t want a chubby wife and he can’t possibly love u now. I cry a lot and he tells me, where in the world do these crazy thoughts come from and I say IDK. I so need this book.
There is nithing I need to do to win God’s approval. He loved me when I was unlovely. Christ did it all for me. I just need to accept His free gift and rest in Him
So thankful for another reminder that we are beautiful in His eyes in a world where beauty is a treatment.